I'm in Japan now and I wanted to test the SmartEX ticket reservation system for the Tokaido and Sanyo shinkansen. I tried to sign up with three different foreign (Canadian) credit cards and each time I failed. From what I can tell from Googling on the issue, the 1-yen charge that SmartEX uses to confirm that your card is valid is too low for most foreign banks to accept. Not sure if this is correct, but one thing is certain: it didn't work with three different (and valid) North American credit cards. So, I pulled out my Japan-issued credit card (I used to live in Japan) and it worked immediately. And, I added my digital Icoca card to my SmartEX account, and it works perfectly. So, I can book a shinkansen ticket on my phone with SmartEX and then just tap my phone on the turnstile and board the shinkansen. It's brilliant. But, I'm afraid that this is unavailable to most foreign tourists. My questions:

1) Has anyone been able to sign up for and use SmartEX with a non-Japanese credit card?

2) Can anyone figure out a workaround for those who do not have a Japanese credit card?

I sure hope that SmartEx gets up to speed and figures out a way for foreigners to use SmartEX to book shinkansen tickets, because if you've seen the lines at JR ticket counters and even ticket machines recently, you'll understand why buying tickets online is crucial.